Brooks will be in New York City Thursday for a special screening of Blazing Saddles at Radio City Music Hall, and will take questions from the audience following the film. The event, planned prior to Wilder's death, will now carry a heavy poignancy.

Shock rocker Marilyn Manson, who has often used Willy Wonka references in his act over the years, paid a touching tribute to Wilder on Instagram, saying “my heart is sore. Gene Wilder, my childhood wouldn’t have existed without you.”